Wikipedia is Better than the CIA

The World Factbook: Japan

Wikipedia: Economy of Japan

Today’s topic of interest is the national economy of Japan. In lieu of my normal introduction, I will begin my column with an article closely tied to Japanese economics. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, it provides interesting, if not educational, insight into what drives the Japanese economy. Secondly, it is Valentine’s Day and I think we all deserve a break, especially me. Here’s the article: Geek Spending Power

Let’s begin with the World Factbook. It provides a wealth of information ranging from the number of unpaved airports to the country’s annual industrial production growth rate. I’m not even sure what that is exactly, but the point is that this site is a gold mine if you’re looking for any sort of statistical data. All data listed on this site have been provided courtesy of none other than the CIA. What more reliable of a source could you want? Unfortunately, the CIA doesn’t always get its facts right. What it does do, though, is provide us with a consensus source for which all forms of news media have access. This endows the press with a common database giving all media a sense of factuality and legitimacy.

Other than that, though, I’m not really impressed. As I glance over the site, the numbers mean absolutely nothing to me. Don’t get me wrong. Statistics are great and all, but they only reveal a part of the story. This is where Wikipedia comes in, quite possibly the greatest resource at my disposal. One day Wikipedia will inherit the earth, but I digress. The Economy of Japan page provides an ample supply of information as well, but in a much more user friendly form. The information is broad and generalized, but manages to paint a pretty clear picture while incorporating the important details. This sort of information is much more accessible to the public and gives meaning to all those statistics. So there it is, Wikipedia is better than the CIA.